Postgame Quotes: HC Mike Shanahan

On what he saw on QB Robert Griffin III’s last throw and what Robert saw:

SHANAHAN: I really don’t know. I will have to take a look at the film and kind of go through his thought process. It is really hard to say, I didn’t talk to him after the game.

On the comeback in the fourth quarter after being down 24 to 0:

SHANAHAN: Yeah I thought we had a couple missed opportunities in the first half on third downs. We ran the ball well, obviously we didn’t pass the ball very well. We had some opportunities to keep drives and we didn’t get it done. It took us until the fourth quarter to make a couple plays. We had our opportunity there at the end, we just couldn’t take advantage of it.

On how he explains their start and taking three quarters to really get going:

SHANAHAN: Well like I said it just takes maybe a missed tackle here and you have a missed third down, a dropped ball. It doesn’t take a whole lot. Our guys had a great week in practice. Obviously as you said we didn’t get it going until the fourth quarter, a little bit in the third quarter, that was disappointing. I was pleased with how our guys fought in the fourth quarter, especially taking a look at halftime with where we were at and we fought very hard in the second half. Again, you have one on the road you have to play a full 60 minutes, and we didn’t play good enough to win.

On if he is concerned about the fact that they practiced well and put in all that work but it didn’t seem like it was showing up:

SHANAHAN: No, I am not disappointed in that, that’s why you practice. I mean if it was perfect all the time we would have a lot better record. So we are working on the things we’ve done poorly and hopefully we can keep improving. We are going to have to to find a way to win, especially with our next opponent.

On whether QB Robert Griffin III shared anything about what he actually saw on that final play or what he was trying to get done:

SHANAHAN: I said I didn’t talk to Robert after the play.

On if he has an update on TE Jordan Reed and WR Leonard Hankerson:

SHANAHAN: Yeah the guy is a little banged up. [LCB E.J.] Biggers, his right knee, will have an MRI, possible meniscuses bone, that was a right knee, he will get an MRI, just some cartilage. Hankerson, left knee MRI, possible LCL, he will get an MRI on that. And Jordan Reed was a concussion that’s why he didn’t go back in.

On moving the ball well and getting a lot of yardage, even though they were down early:

SHANAHAN: We moved the ball well and ran the football but you have to score points. We got to the five yard line, second and goal and had miscommunication with a play and a protection that turned into, I think it was called an interception. But yeah that is discouraging when you are working down the field, second and goal from the five and obviously disappointed that you don’t get a touchdown but we didn’t get any points there. You have to make those plays and we didn’t make those plays. If you don’t make those plays you don’t win.

On how much difficult it was to keep hope to turn it around with their 3-7 record:

SHANAHAN: I think what you do is you really keep on trying to improve yourself. You can’t lose perspective over one football game, you’re not making mistakes, making plays in crucial situations. I thought we did some great things in the second half. I have a lot of belief in our football team. Our guys fought extremely hard when they were down, a lot of people don’t fight that hard. We made too many mistakes to win. Credit to them, they got the job done and we didn’t.

On how he explains his team going through bad stretches and what causes these periods of bad play like 24 to nothing and then playing well in the second half:

SHANAHAN: Well like I said, it might be a dropped ball, it might be a missed assignment. Things I have been saying, that’s how you score points and that’s how you keep people from getting out of the end zone. We had some missed tackles today. I give a lot of credit to [RB LeSean] McCoy, he made some great runs today, he made some people miss. Good play action time, the quarterback had some time and made some good throws. But we still fought back like I said, we did the things that you have to do to compete but again it was a little short there in the fourth quarter.

On if he would isolate the issues on the miss tackles and defensive problems:

SHANAHAN: Well I think you just said it. You’ve got not many people who can make cuts like that. I thought [FS] Brandon Meriweather had a heck of a game. He made some people miss and Brandon made some good tackles. At the end of the game, I don’t think that the stats were that overwhelming but I thought some of his cuts were pretty impressive.

On how much different a quarterback is QB Nick Foles than what they saw last year:

SHANAHAN: Nick did an excellent job. He has a lot of poise. He is being protected well. He has a good running game which gives every quarterback a little feeling of being comfortable when they are in the pocket. Most of the four man rushes can’t get to you right away, so he is taking advantage of that. He is big and strong and makes some good decisions. I am really impressed with him.

On the adjustments to their passing game to do better in the second half:

SHANAHAN: Yeah I think we talked about that. You try to make adjustments. I did think we made some good adjustments. Once we lost Hankerson and you lose a guy like Jordan, I thought our guys came back and filled in a couple pieces. You lose Hankerson early and lose Jordan at half time and the guys that came in I thought fought and did some great things and able to keep it going. We had to throw there when we were down and we made some plays and left some out in the field.

On his thoughts on RGIII’s performance today:

SHANAHAN: Well, we’re all judgmental when we’re losing so it’s always disappointing. Anytime you don’t win you are always tough on yourself and that’s what we’ll do.

On what he saw from WR Aldrick Robinson and his big play today:

SHANAHAN: I thought it was a great play. I thought Robert made a great throw and we needed a big play at that time. You could see there was a little contact on the field and he kept his focus and came up with a big touchdown. We were really pleased with how he handled himself.

On his thoughts on how tough is it to fight back and then lose a game that way at the end, is it any different emotionally to lose a lop-sided game:

SHANAHAN: Yeah, you never want to lose a lop-sided game. You always want to be very competitive, you don’t want to lose. But anytime that you get embarrassed, that’s not a lot of fun.